Spinodal decomposition in gels

We construct a Ginzburg-Landau model for gels undergoing spinodal decomposition in terms of the polymer volume fraction and a deformation tensor. We numerically demonstrate that the domain growth is extremely slowed down in late stages, where the surface tension force, which drives the coarsening in usual fluids, is cancelled by the elastic force. The patterns closely resemble those observed in highly viscoelastic, asymmetric binary mixtures.